Being Poor is Not Easy

CHAPTER 4: FRIENDS THROUGH LETTERS

Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months.

After Bebe rejected him, Rico slowly accepted the truth. It was painful at first, but eventually he realized that they were simply not meant for each other. As time passed, he moved on and no longer held on to the hope that one day Bebe would change her mind.

Life at school returned to normal.

It was during this time that Lester finally gathered the courage to write a letter to Bebe.

Before doing so, he spoke to Rico.

"Would it be okay if I wrote to her?" Lester asked.

Rico simply shrugged and smiled.

"Why not? We were never together anyway."

Those words eased some of the guilt Lester had been carrying.

Not long after, he wrote his first letter to Bebe.

The message was simple.

He was not confessing his feelings.

He was not trying to impress her.

He only asked one question.

"Can we be friends?"

To his surprise, Bebe said yes.

And so began a friendship built not on conversations, but on letters.

Even though they attended the same school and their classrooms were only a short distance apart, they rarely spoke in person. Instead, they exchanged handwritten letters whenever they had the chance.

Through those letters, they shared stories about school, family, dreams, and everyday life.

What started as a simple friendship slowly became an important part of their lives.

Months passed.

Then an entire year.

The routine never changed.

Letter after letter.

Message after message.

And somehow, neither of them grew tired of it.

For Lester, every letter from Bebe became something he looked forward to.

A simple piece of paper could brighten his entire day.

Then everything began to change.

When Lester became a second-year student, Bebe was already in her third year.

By then, they had become more comfortable with each other.

The letters were still there, but now they started talking more often in person.

At first, the conversations were short and awkward.

Then they became longer.

Sometimes they would meet during breaks.

Sometimes they would walk together around the school grounds.

There were even days when they shared meals together.

Little by little, the distance between them disappeared.

For the first time, Lester felt that he was no longer just the boy delivering messages or writing letters.

He was becoming someone important in Bebe's life.

And as he spent more time with her, he began to discover the person behind the letters.

He learned about her dreams, her fears, her strengths, and even the things that made her laugh.

The more he knew her, the more he admired her.

And the more he admired her, the harder it became to hide what he truly felt.

What had started as friendship was slowly becoming something deeper.

Something neither of them had spoken about.

Yet.

And Lester could not help but wonder if Bebe felt the same way.